The Black Blossom
by gin ketsueki
Summary: A love story between two cats in ThunderClan with a prophecy they have to bear. But when one dies...what will the other one do? UNACTIVE
1. Chapter 1

**On a snowy leaf-bare day, two kits were born.**

**Their names were Blackkit and Blossomkit.**

**Blossomkit was a red tabby with golden eyes.**

**Blackkit was a black tom with a white tail tip and green eyes.**

**They were best friends until the ceremony.**

**Blackpaw's mother, Hazeltail died of unknown causes.**

**Blackpaw did not know who his father was, so he was now an orphan.**

**Alone, he shut everyone out of his life.**

**Rosepetal, Blossompaw's mother, died fighting a fox.**

**Foxleap, too grief stricken to live anymore, died one day, sick and weak.**

**Blossompaw was now alone.**

**But there was something else the two had to bear.**

**A prophecy.**

_**Amber's gaze burns the forest.**_

_**The fire blossom will light up the path,**_

_**The black breeze will blow its wrath.**_

_**And only the black blossom can save the forest**_

_**And they will be together, forever.**_

Blossompaw opened her golden eyes. They looked dull.

She stretched. Her fur looked unclean.

She yawned. She looked unfed.

She padded out into the dark and gloomy day. She looked weak.

But there was still a small flame burning inside her.

"Hey, Blossompaw!"

Blossompaw turned around and saw her mentor, Toadstep, soaking wet and panting. Next to him was a wet bundle of fur she realized was Cherrypaw.

"We fell in the lake by accident," he wheezed. "I think I'm going to get checked on by Jayfeather-I'm frozen right now. Lionblaze can take you out training, and you'll go with Whitewing and Blackpaw. S-sorry, I'm really not feeling well right now." And Toadstep shuffled off with Cherrypaw in the direction of Jayfeather's den.

Blossompaw wasn't really listening. When her mentor had said that she was going training with Blackpaw, her belly lurched and she could hear roaring in her ears.

But you like him a lot, a small voice said in her ear. Shouldn't you be happy that you're going training with him?

Still...Blossompaw lifted her head to the cloudy sky and thought about that day.

**line break**

"_Hey, Blackpaw!" Blossompaw was calling. "Toadstep and I are going out to explore the territory! Can you and Whitewing come with us?"_

_It was a sunny autumn day, and Blossompaw and Blackpaw had just been apprenticed._

"_Of course!" Blackpaw had answered eagerly without Whitewing's approval. The white warrior just sighed and shook her head, but she let out a purr of amusement._

_The four cats left the camp and padded outside, the apprentices naturally wanting to touch and know everything._

_Then they emerged to the great Sycamore. Blossompaw's jaw dropped to the ground, and Blackpaw forgot to breathe._

"_I feel so...tiny," Blossompaw had mewed in a small voice._

"_Same..." Blackpaw panted, trying to recover his breath._

_Toadstep purred with amusement. "You're going to learn to climb trees later. Give it a try right now. But don't go past the first branch you see," he added quickly, after Whitewing stared at him, looking horrified._

"_Got it!" Blossompaw and Blackpaw ran to the tree, eager to climb._

_Blossompaw was the first one to try. She jumped up, her paws scrabbling on the bark, and actually managed to get pretty far before she yowled and fell down. She hit the ground, and a pile of leaves blew up. When they settled, Blackpaw couldn't find Blossompaw._

"_Where are you?" he had cried. A red tabby paw shot out of the leaves and waved in the air. Blossompaw popped up, giggling._

"_I'm right here, Blackpaw!"_

_Blackpaw let out a sigh of relief. "Thank StarClan. Now, it's my turn!" He unsheathed his claws and leapt onto the bark, and surprisingly managed to hold on. Slowly, bit by bit, he slithered up the tree. He landed on the first branch, and Blossompaw cheered. "YAY! Blackpaw, you made it!"_

_Blackpaw grinned and padded to the end of the branch. "I did it! Whitewing! Toadstep! Blossompaw! Look at me!"_

"_Be careful, you-" Whitewing began, taking a step forward, but Blackpaw had already begun to fall to the ground._

_Toadstep bolted forward. Blackpaw hit the ground before the branch, which was steadily coming down faster, and Toadstep grasped his scruff in his mouth and tried to tug him out of the leaves. But Blackpaw did not budge. "My paws are stuck in something!" he cried._

_And then, Blossompaw saved Blackpaw's life._

_She darted forward and barreled into Blackpaw, causing him and Toadstep to fly backwards. The branch came down with a crash, and dirt flew everywhere._

"_Blossompaw!" Blackpaw cried desperately, being dragged away by Toadstep._

_When the dust cleared, Blossompaw was not there. Whitewing hurried forward and dug around, and then she came up with a dusty Blossompaw, her eyes closed tight._

_When the warrior turned around, though, she gasped. "Blackpaw...what-what is that?"_

_Blackpaw looked at his paws and screeched._

_His paws were tangled in the fur of his mother, Hazeltail. She had a peaceful look on her face, as if she was sleeping, but she couldn't be, without her chest moving. Her fur was quite tidy and there were no scratches on her._

_Blackpaw freed his paws and backed away, eyes wide. "What..." he was lost for words._

_Blossompaw opened her eyes, then got up and shook out her fur. "Whew, Blackpaw...you owe me one, but what-" She stopped as she caught sight of Hazeltail. Her heart seemed to skip a beat. "What happened?" she whispered._

"_You...you killed her!__"__ Blackpaw suddenly looked up with angry eyes at Blossompaw and she took a step back, eyes wide. _I'm innocent!_ She wanted to scream. But the words got lost on the way to her mouth and she said, __"__Why-how could I have killed her?__"_

_Whitewing was now staring at Blackpaw, eyes narrowed. "Watch your mouth. Blossompaw just became an apprentice, she has no grudge against Hazeltail, she saved your life, and YOU'RE the one who made the branch spilt and fall. And besides, Hazeltail must've been laid there on purpose and killed, because she wouldn't be hiding or sleeping under a pile of leaves!"_

"_Shut up!" Blackpaw hissed. "I've heard enough!" He whirled around and dashed away, while Blossompaw called his name over and over again._

_Blossompaw stared after his disappearing form, unable to understand why he was acting like that. Whitewing seemed to read her mind and she laid her tail over her shoulders. "He's grieving," she murmured. "He'll recover soon."_

_Blossompaw nodded, not really hearing what the white she-cat had said._

**line break**

But Blackpaw hadn't recovered, not even after another three moons.

Blossompaw blinked and snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the sky. "Rosepetal, Foxleap, why is my life like this?" she murmured, then turned around and left to go find Lionblaze, Whitewing, and Blackpaw.


	2. Chapter 2

A scowling Blackpaw stood at the exit of the camp, glaring at everything. Whitewing hadn't even bothered to look at him, and a new feeling of rage surged up inside him. _No one cares about me anymore! Well, I won__'__t care about them!_

Lionblaze and Blossompaw padded up to them, and Lionblaze nodded to Whitewing. She whirled around, meowed, "Let's go, everyone," and vanished in the tunnel. Blossompaw was biting her bottom lip and glancing nervously at Blackpaw, as if willing him to leave first. Lionblaze was staring at them, and Blackpaw rolled his eyes and left.

He dashed after Whitewing and soon after, they arrived at the training place. Whitewing stretched, and Lionblaze and Blossompaw caught up.

"Today we are doing mid-term assessment, just to see how well your training is going." Whitewing paced back and forth. "Me and Lionblaze will be surveying your moves, and you two will battle. Claws sheathed, be gentle. Once you've pinned the other down, and they can't get up, you win. You may begin." The two warriors went to the side to watch.

Blossompaw crouched down and faced Blackpaw, her face almost expressionless. Blackpaw also crouched, and made sure that his claws were sheathed, and waited for Blossompaw to move.

As usual, she leapt up first, and Blackpaw waited until she was practically on top of her before he pounced. _Too easy_, he thought.

But this time, as they met in the air, Blossompaw pushed off of Blackpaw and went sailing out of harm's way. The other apprentice, however, crashed into a bush with an _oof_. He pulled himself free angrily and saw Blossompaw waiting for him. He ran towards her, and they were locked in a hissing ball of fur.

Blackpaw landed a blow on Blossompaw's head. Her golden eyes were blank and confused for a moment, and then she raked Blackpaw's belly with sheathed hind claws, and he sprang away, belly stinging.

Blossompaw got up, shook her head, and jumped at Blackpaw. Again they fought while rolling around together. Blossompaw butted Blackpaw with her head, but he merely stumbled a little, then he grasped Blossompaw and held her in a tight embrace. The she-cat was twitching feebly in his grasp, and he pressed her onto the ground. Blossompaw groaned and opened her eyes just in time to see Blackpaw jump up and land on top of her.

Blossompaw made a noise like she was going to vomit, then lay still. Blackpaw suddenly regretted using his finishing move. Had it been too much for her?

But as soon as he loosened his grip, Blossompaw sprang up and knocked him over, then pinned him down by the throat. Blackpaw struggled but couldn't get up, and he admitted defeat.

"Good, good." Whitewing padded forward, her face looking satisfied. "That was some good training. Blackpaw, try not to loosen your grip on an enemy so quickly." Blackpaw bristled but before he could retort Lionblaze spoke. "You were pretty good, actually, Blackpaw. And very nice thinking and moves, Blossompaw."

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Blossompaw give her chest a few licks in embarrassment. He snorted quietly. "Can we go back to camp now?"

Whitewing sighed. "Yes. Let's go." And she flicked her tail and led them all home.

**Two moons later, at the Gathering...**

"Blackbreeze! Blackbreeze! Blackbreeze!" ThunderClan, ShadowClan, and RiverClan chanted. WindClan did not say anything, and they were shooting hostile glares at the other clans.

Blossompaw glanced around and saw Blackbreeze. He had been named a warrior a moon earlier than when his assessment was because he had fought off a fox that tried to attack the camp. But he didn't look proud, like he should've been, but instead looked upset and kept glancing up at the sky. Blossompaw knew that he was wondering if Hazeltail was watching him.

"Hi." Blossompaw heard someone say. She turned around and saw a large grey tom with blue eyes and black flecks of fur. he wore a small smile on his face, and smelled like the fresh air and for some reason, he also had a wonderful scent that reminded Blossompaw of the fresh forest.

"Hello," meowed Blossompaw casually.

The tom tilted his head to the side. "What's your name and what clan are you from?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because...you look like someone I know."

"Blossompaw of ThunderClan."

"Oh. Stormfleck of WindClan."

"WindClan?" Blossompaw paid full attention, a bit surprised. But before she could stop herself, she asked, "Why does your clan look so grumpy, anyway?"

But Stormfleck merely chuckled. "Well-" Suddenly there was a loud yowl from the Great Oak, and all the cats went silent. "You're going to see now," Stormfleck muttered darkly as Onestar got up.

"We have found a dead rabbit with the scent of WindClan on it in ThunderClan territory. Prey-stealers!" He snarled at Bramblestar.

Angry yowls and hisses erupted from the ThunderClan cats.

"It may have just strayed into ThunderClan territory!"

"How do you know that it was on our territory? Cross the border?"

"You're framing us! Killing a rabbit and then throwing it over the border!"

"How dare you accuse us?"

Bramblestar lifted his tail for silence. "Onestar," he meowed calmly. "Is there any way that you can prove that one of our warriors killed the rabbit?"

But Onestar was already leaving with his clan. ShadowClan and RiverClan joined in yowling insults at him. Stormfleck stayed behind, then quickly whispered to Blossompaw, "Meet me at the border tomorrow night when the moon rises." Then he ran to catch up with his clan.

"SILENCE."

Bramblestar's command was so steely and so powerful everyone froze and turned to look at him.

"Now is not the time for a war," he meowed. "We have all just recovered from the battle with the Dark Forest, and we cannot-"

Blackstar interrupted him with a hiss. "Our clan is not as cowardly as yours, Bramblestar. We stand for what we think is right, and we will do everything to defend our honor. ShadowClan, let's go." And so ShadowClan left the island.

Mistystar cleared her throat. "RiverClan will be going too. Farewell, Bramblestar." And RiverClan left too.

There was a long silence, broken by Bramblestar. "Come on, everyone. It is getting late. Let's go."

**Later, in the ThunderClan camp...**

"Who killed the rabbit?" Bramblestar's amber eyes scanned the assemled clan. "Who did it? I just want to know why you did it. This could cause a war."

No one answered. Blossompaw shifted uncomfortably.

"You may tell me in private, whoever you are. Meeting dismissed." Bramblestar left for his den, and the crowd dispersed. Blossompaw tried to catch Blackbreeze's eye and talk with him, but he wasn't looking at anyone, as usual.

The she-cat sighed and went to her nest. As she curled up, she let her thoughts drift to her meeting with that cat Stormfleck...


End file.
